Archive for category: Business Online

Social media presents great opportunities to small and medium-sized businesses – you can be nimble, fun and have plenty of character without having to worry about the layers of approval that larger businesses face when they use social media. I’ve worked on some tips to help you on your way to running great social media channels and thinking about the role it can play in your organization.

1. Define your objectives – before you start posting with a scattergun approach, sit down and map out what is important to you.  Knowing what results you want will define how you go about using social media. Social media moves swiftly, but that doesn’t mean you should rush into it without a plan!  Do you want to:

– get clicks to your website?
– showcase your work?
– talk to your customers?
– take orders/bookings?
– invite people to your events?

Read more

In a world where we have instant access, instant influence and instant feedback, the mentality of posting for the sake of posting is real. Have you caught yourself rearranging your morning coffee to make it more Instagrammable, composing a tweet while at the checkout, or debating with friends on which hashtags to use to memorialize your weekend trip to the mountains?

Like it or not, this social behaviour is natural.

“Living in and positively contributing to groups helped our ancestors survive extremely harsh conditions. After millennia of group behaviour, we’re fundamentally hard-wired to participate in and support our digital tribe. And biologically, when we’re praised for doing something (e.g. an approving smile, pat on the back, or digital thumbs up) our brain releases dopamine — a reward mechanism produced to let us know that whatever we just did was a positive thing. So, when we check our phones after posting something on one of our social networks, we’re actually looking for a stream of social activity and fix of dopamine.” explains Ian Elliot in his article Click/Flash.

Read more

When in the process of setting up a small business and marketing it for more sales, it’s important to look into all avenues of marketing to ensure you don’t miss out on any potential customers. One marketing method that’s used by many small businesses is email marketing. Email marketing is not only a cost effective strategy to use but has the potential to build a stronger relationship with your future customers. So how do you create a powerful email marketing campaign? This expert guide will give you the top techniques you can use to create a solid email marketing campaign.

Best Practices For A Great Email Marketing Strategy

Identify Your Target Audience

Identifying your target audience is the first thing you need to consider when creating a powerful marketing strategy. The idea of audience identification is so you don’t market your business to the wrong people who aren’t interested in what you have to offer. This just wastes your time and theirs. So how do you identify your target audience? The answer is audience segmentation. Audience segmentation is the process of breaking down your potential customer base and working out specific content that is targeted for them. You can start this break down process by placing your audience into selected categories. These categories include:

Read more

To run your business smooth means that you will have to mark your presence online, and offline as well. However, unless you have a good website, people will just quickly click away to look for what they need elsewhere. You should never wait for updating your webpage until it is too late, because by the time you have everything done, your business might have missed out on many opportunities.

Let Customers Praise Your Products and Services

Telling how great your business is, will never be a good practice, because people will want to hear what other peers are thinking. It will be absolutely necessary that you include reviews, and to alter them very little, so that people can read what others really meant. Not only will it be helpful for other people, because it will tell them clearly if they should work with your business or not. But, on the bonus side, if you have good reviews, it will be an invite for everyone to come and check out your business, meaning that you will have more traffic.

Read more

Our competitive landscape has completely changed. Customers expect more from businesses, on and offline. Technology is transforming the way we search, connect, engage and purchase. New tools, platforms, lower barriers to entry and accessible insights are evening the playing field for small businesses.

Is your mobile and digital technology use currently limiting your digital potential?

Here are five tips to help you become a leader, not a laggard.

1. Get the basics right

•    Stalk your customer – Understand your customers’ buying journey and exceed expectations. Tailor the online experience to complement your other channels and customer interactions.

•    Have a realistic budget – Customer attraction and retention are crucial for small businesses. Have you set aside a budget for marketing? As a guideline 5% of revenues is recommended for existing businesses and approximately 10% for start-ups. ROI (return-on-investment) should always be key when measuring your marketing efforts. Smart investments will ensure you are well positioned to attract consumers now and in the future.

Read more